Rush Opening Night, Doubleneck Returns!!!

[iriane]

This was the old-school Rush fan's DREAM. The show started with nearly all eras of the band represented from newest to oldest. The stage set changed between nearly every song with the backline changing accordingly. The first set wasn't so eventful, but after intermission...pure Rush PERFECTION. The entire stage was nothing but amps...behind Alex was 5 full Marshall stacks, and behind Geddy was a literal WALL of Ampegs; it is doubtful any of those amps were used, but they looked great. Slowly, after every song, some amps were removed gradually until at the end of the set the entire stage was bare (as a recreation of their first high school gig) except for Geddy's original Traynor amp (talk about attention to detail), 1 amp for Alex, and Neil's drum kit...which is a replica of the REAL Neil Peart's original 70's chrome Slingerland kit, double bass (!) with a full 4 piece array of open bottom concert toms! Neil Peart HATES nostalgia, so it was a HUGE surprise that he agreed to play his "old" setup that he discarded YEARS ago. Just seeing that drum kit brought tears to my eyes. The band's first set had Neil using his modern jazz based kit...but the REAL Peart (and most would say the REAL Rush) returned for the 2nd set, which represented Moving Pictures to the first album. Geddy used about a zillion basses, a bunch of Gibsons of all things, and broke out the old black 4003 for only "Red Barchetta" and it actually sounded a bit plunky and "hard to play;" it's doubtful that it was run in stereo as he hardly touched any of his Ricks and running a separate stereo setup would be too much of a hassle when he's already switching 20 basses in the set. When Geddy doesn't run his Rick stereo he uses them with both pickups full on without the cap which takes out most of that Rickenbacker midrange aggressiveness...and that's what it sounded like. It wasn't the Geddy Rick tone of old. Surprisingly, about the best SOUNDING bass through his modern setup that sounded the most like his OLD Rick sound was what looked like a late 50's Precision that he played on the horrid song "Roll the Bones." That Precision was a great growly midrangy honky bass that provided the most old-school Geddy tone, strangely enough. The band played a jawdropping set including the long-awaited "Jacob's Ladder," "Hemispheres/Prelude," "Cygnus X-1," "2112" including "Presentation" and "Grand Finale," and the ENTIRE "Xanadu" with full intro, real Moog, real percussion, and the return of both Alex's Gibson doubleneck AND Geddy's Rickenbacker doubleneck! Whodathunk that would EVER return!??!!!?!! Truly amazing! As if that wasn't enough, they even played "Lakeside Park," a song that Geddy has stated for ages that he HATES. I NEVER thought I would hear Rush play this song again, one of my absolute favorites! Then, they played "Anthem" too!!! Just mindblowing. Geddy's voice was in GREAT form, and he NAILED "Hemispheres" (tuned down of course, but WAY better than in 1994). They even played "What You're Doing" and part of "Garden Road" once it was all over...truly one of the BEST Rush shows I've EVER seen. Neil has lost some of his finesse and technicality a bit (he takes it a bit easy on the hard fills of old), and it might be difficult for Geddy to keep up throughout this tour hitting all those high notes in the second set. But, overall, it was WAAAAY better than I anticipated, with a PERFECT setlist for the 2nd half. Rush fans are in disbelief. If this IS the last tour, they FINALLY gave us old-school Rush fans EXACTLY what we've ALWAYS wanted. Absolutely unreal!

[AndyM]

I think that's the best concert review I've read anywhere for any performer. As odd as it may sound, I'm from Toronto and have never seen Rush. Back in the day I was in an R&B band playing Stax material. I had the identical Traynor amp with the cabinet sitting on the long side, same as the picture. I'm just a few years older than Geddy - maybe he saw me playing in the Yorkville village? Never met him but I have good friends who are very close friends of Geddy and Alex. I'm thinking of seeing one of the concerts this summer at the Air Canada Centre.
I'm impressed with the photos. How'd you get the closeup of the bass rack?

[johna]

I agree with the last post - great review!

Out of interest what was the venue? - it like a theatre with a proscenium arch.

Also what was the overall sound like?

I've never really been into Rush, but would go to the gig if they ever visited this part of the world.

[cheyenne]

That 4080 looks to be pretty unique.

[ajish4]

EXCELLENT REVIEW, thanks for the pics!

So good to hear they are shaking things up a bit, and it's great to see some "old friends" come out of storage for live use!!!

[CanOpener]

That doubleneck looks new and custom made. And awesome! From pictures I've seen from the past he had a white one and a Jetglo one. Did Rickenbacker make a (new) 4080 for Geddy? Or is it one of his old ones refinished in Fireglo? I noticed from that guitar rack pic, that it looks to be a neck through as well the original 4080's were bolt on... It has checkerboard binding too.. Tasty...

[CanOpener]

After looking at those (moving) pictures a bit more, it looks to be a 4080 fireglo with bolt-on necks, and wavy Grover tuners on the bass neck.. But the vintage style triangle inlays and checkerboard binding make me think it's "custom".

[sloop_john_b]

That doubleneck was a basket case that was rebuilt by Dale Fortune in 2007 or so. I've played it.

The 12-string neck is akin to a 660/12, width-wise.

[woodyng]

I wanna see him pull that 4005 out for a song.....

[CanOpener]

Ahh, now I know the "Circumstances" on that 4080..very cool..

[bassduke49]

This one, featured in the book. It's got checkered binding and full-width crushd-pearl inlays, unlike other 4080/12s. Geddy has been "collecting" Ricks lately. I think this one was one from the Dave Pascoe collection. The "4005" shown in the rack was Gary Clauson's RM 3261 (also in the book)! What goes around comes around!

[CanOpener]

Crickey, why didn't I see that before. It is in The Book of Rick....

[s4001]

Very cool! Looks like the RRF is well represented on the tour!

[cjj]

Cool review & pics! Thanks for posting all of the great info!

[cheyenne]

Geddy really needs to get to know us better......